Sunday, May 31, 2009

Things I Wasn't Prepared for in Motherhood

I got to thinking the other day, as one of these things happened, that no one told me about these things. Or maybe they did and I said "ya right that will never happen to me...my kids will be better than that." Wasn't that naive of me?! I mean you go into parenting knowing that things will change about your everyday life. That you'll have less time to yourself. That you have to change diapers now. That you will have to give up things for your child's sake. Those things you are prepared for, but there are other little things you didn't know would happen. Those moments come and you just sit there, bewildered, and blinking, and think to yourself. "No that didn't just happen to me? My free lifestyle got traded for this?!"

Here we go:
1) Immediately after you give birth, you suddenly don't care how many people walk into that delivery room. You're so tired, and relieved that you literally don't care if people see your Hoo Haw. I was stunned by this when I later gained back some modesty!

2) The first time you stand up after giving birth everything will look like a horror show happened there. I'm breaking a code of ethics among mother's here, because this is something that no one talks to you about until after you have a baby. Otherwise, it might scare people who haven't had kids. Most people that read this have kids, so if you don't...it's really not that bad. *wink* *wink*

3) When you give birth, a good portion of your brain falls out with the baby. I had heard of "mommy brain," but again I thought it wouldn't happen to me. I've had an audio graphic memory nearly all my life, but once I had kids I forget things so easily. I should buy stock in sticky notes! I have to write EVERYTHING down. Even ideas for my blog. (My iPhone has a notepad that is great for this, by the way!) If you ask me my birthdate I may or may not remember it on a given day, but I can sure as heck tell you how many times my kid pooped that day so far! Speaking of poop...

4) I didn't think that poop would become a major aspect of my life. NEVER, EVER, did I think that I would worry about how many times my kids have pooped that week. Never did I think that I would have my child spray me with poop mid-diaper change...more than once. Never did I think that I would be cleaning poop off the carpet after my son decides he would rather use the floor than his diaper or the potty. Certainly, I never expected to do a dance and make up a song for my son that says "you went poop on the POTTY...WHOO...You're a big boy now...WHOO!" Never. I'm way too cool for that! Don't even ask me how many times I've had my son pee on me either...can't count them all!

5) I didn't realize my clothes would become a Kleenex for my kids. Pretty much self-explanatory. Your kids will wipe anything on their face onto your shirt. Which leads me to...

6) I didn't expect to find stained shirts acceptable for everyday wear. When my son reached a certain age he would either wipe snot, food, or spit on my shirt every time I picked him up. So it got to the point where I would just pick a shirt out of my closet and if it had a stain I would say "like it matters...I'm just going to get more on it later!" Sometimes I go in public like this without even noticing, but when someone tells me I'm not even embarrassed.

7) Getting things sneezed into my face. Let's see I've had spit (normal sneeze), pureed squash, cottage cheese, sticky red medicines, sticky clear medicines, and various other substances sneezed into my face since I became a mother. Every time it happens I think of those variety shows where they get a pie smashed in their face and have to wipe their eyes clear to see. Plus, you always get that same look of utter disbelief, and resignation when it happens.

8) Barf. I can't even tell you how many times I've been barfed on since I became a mom. It happens a LOT when my kid is sick, because he doesn't feel good and comes running to me just as the chunks are rising...voila! Mom is barfed on. The worst part about it is that it doesn't bother me as much as I thought. I have always had a weak stomach, and was a huge sympathy puker. I mean I threw up when I had to clean up dog barf only about a year before my son was born. Since I became a mom I can clean up any barfy mess you give me! And I could tell you some stories about barfs around here!

9) Baby erections. It makes me uncomfortable every time! I'm trying to be a mature mom and ignore it, but I just want to say "cover up boy...that's not Kosher!" Or laugh and point. One of the two! I know...so mature.

10) Being followed like the pied piper. But in my house it's not rats. It's dogs, kids, and even my husband. I can't shower by myself. I can't go to the bathroom by myself. Every time I turn around I'm tripping on someone or something. It really makes things take a lot longer than they should. Some days I get so fed up with it I have actually yelled "will everyone please go do something else and leave me alone! I just want to load the dishwasher without you all in the way! GAHHH!!"

Those are all I can think of now, but feel free to add some of your own in the comments!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Making Room

This weekend we are starting to make Lillie's room. It used to be our office, so I have to go through and switch furniture and reorganize lots of papers, etc. Why is it I never realize how much junk I have until I go to do something like this? I think it will take an hour or two to complete and it takes a couple days. Mostly because my little helpers aren't so helpful. Byron keeps dragging things out that I just put away and playing with my printers (he must think since I moved it out to the family room it's okay to touch now...). The rooms I'm rearranging are upstairs, and Lillie is downstairs napping on the dryer. That means I have to go up and down the stairs every time she wants the Binky back in. It's good for the exercise program though! Just frustrating for my personality. See, I'm one of those people that likes to sit down and finish a project all at once or I'm afraid I never will. It's so daunting to have to keep starting and stopping every time someone needs a drink, a snack, a Binky, a boob, etc. I'm sure I'll get it done sometime this summer.
Anyway, just wanted to write a quick note about my frustrations, while I'm cuddling the toddler. (He is being very clingy today, this is also not helping.)

Monday, May 25, 2009

I'm so tir...Zzzz

Today was kind of craptastic. I've had worst days as a mother, but if there is a grey area between great days and the worst days of your life...this is in the grey area closer to the worst side.

First of all, my daughter is having some issue. She's got a little temperature, and a runny nose and will NOT sleep. It's either teething or another cold. I'm hoping it's teething, because this cold business is just about to send me over the edge. Really?! Another cold?! Really? Give me a break! So if baby isn't sleeping then of course neither is mommy. I think I got maybe 2 hours of sleep total last night. Every time I'd get her quieted down, and I was just about to drift off into a deep sleep she would start wailing again. So basically I had an entire night of cat naps. Not good enough!

I was so tired when I got up this morning that anytime I closed my eyes I would nod off. I could be standing up, talking, reading, texting, Facebooking, eating...you name it...I fell asleep doing it today. Bad news, bears! It's pretty bad when you consider eating coffee grounds for the caffeine instead of just making coffee. I don't like plain coffee though, it's got to be coffee masquerading as cocoa for me to drink it. But I digress.

So anyway, even though I was tired, and Lillie was crying off and on all day, I had to go to the store today. We were out of milk and ice cream, which is an emergency in this house. (Plus, I have this handy new gadget on my iPhone that is a grocery list, and I had about 12 things on there. Sounds like a reasonable number of items to go to the store and get if you ask me.) So I pack my kids up and head in to Wal Mart. On Memorial Day.

So everyone was in vacation mode except me. To me it was just a normal day since my husband was working and I stay at home. Before I left home I tried to feed Lillie, and of course she wasn't hungry then. She was hungry about 3 minutes into shopping though, and proceeded to scream the entire shopping trip. The worst part about this is that EVERY person that walked by would look at her with this pity face and say "aww poor baby." Which is sweet of them, except it made me feel like the worst mom in the world. Like every person who said that was saying, "I'm sorry your mom is a horrible person and makes you go to Wal Mart when you don't feel good and are hungry you poor sweet little baby girl." Just what I need more guilt as a parent! Besides that, have you ever tried to shop while your kid is screaming? It makes you just want to throw random stuff in your cart and run for the register to get out of there! It's maddening to listen to and I can't concentrate on what I might need to make a meal. So now I'm going to have to go back another time and get more groceries to complete the shopping trip. This time I ONLY got things on my list. So finally we pay and get out of there and head for the car. We get there and guess what...there is a parking lot fender bender blocking my escape. BLAST IT ALL...FOILED AGAIN! (Just ignore my cheesy lines...it's the lack of sleep talking.) So I fed the baby in the car and by that time the police had come and made them move out of the way.

After I got home and unpacked the groceries and made lunch. My husband came home early, so that was one good thing that happened today. Then the baby went to sleep and Byron was watching his cartoons, so I decided to take a little nap. Except my son suddenly decided that he wanted to yell about things, or needed me for something. So again I only got in a couple little cat naps. Those are maddening...your body gets so ticked off at you for fooling it into thinking it might get to rest! So then I was cranky for the rest of the day. I feel bad for my family having to put up with me being snippy.

I hope I get to sleep more tonight! *crossing fingers*

Friday, May 22, 2009

Mini Vacation ReCap

It's sad when you call going somewhere 2 hours away a mini vacation, but my husband works so much that it's hard to go anywhere. I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and he made an appointment for his semi to get detailed at the same time, so we just stayed in Spokane for a couple of days. We stayed at the nicest hotel in town called The Davenport Hotel. It's absolutely gorgeous. We stayed there for our honeymoon a few years ago. May I just say that it was more relaxing the first time. I should have remembered that staying in a hotel with kids isn't relaxing. I just did it a few weeks ago in Iowa. Apparently, I have lost part of my short term memory that remembers painful experiences. Okay, it wasn't THAT bad. It just wasn't as relaxing as I hoped.
We ate some really good food! That's a highlight except for the part where I am supposed to be watching what I eat.
We met some interesting people. By interesting I mean weird and frightening. For instance, we took Byron to the children's museum there called Mobius. We got there less than an hour before closing, but it's not a very big place. So you would think they would offer a discount at that time of day, but they didn't. So anyway, we are paying to get in and the lady asked if we wanted a year membership. We told her we were from out-of-town and so that wouldn't work for us. Just then a strange little man pops around the end of the counter and says "where from?" So we said "Moses Lake."
To which he says "oh, I'm sorry." (are we in 5th grade? who says that?)
The lady taking our money said "oh don't say that John it's rude."
Then he began rambling on and on about how he drove through our town once and how terrible it was and boring and blah blah blah. My husband and I were just looking at him with complete blank stares as he kept digging himself into a hole. While he was talking and I was blank staring I was also thinking to myself "Okay Mr. I Haven't Brushed My Teeth in a Month and I have a Rat Tail....You really aren't convincing me that Spokane is any better."
Our town is kind of boring. I'll admit it it. It's small, but I like it better than Spokane. We have our little town weirdos that you see on a regular basis, but after a while they become normal to you because you "know" them. Like the guy that walks around and lays in the road with his shoes off and placed neatly next to him. Or the guy that walks his dog in a Rascal (one of those motorized wheelchairs) wearing a coonskin cap. Or the old lady that walks around with her hair in a side ponytail, and leaves her teeth at home. But in Spokane, there are those same weirdos times a 100,000. So I don't know what he's bragging about.
Later last night we went swimming in the hotel pool and there was a family with 3 kids and the mom was pregnant again. There isn't anything weird about that, except for the fact that she was gorgeous, skinny as a toothpick and had long, perfectly straight hair. I was thinking to myself "she's pregnant and she skinnier than I am AFTER I had a baby." Not just skinnier than me, though, she was like a size 2. Life isn't fair.
Today before we came home I had to stop at the Department of Licensing to get a permit for my husband. I get this permit every month here at home, but I forgot to get it before we left. My husband needs that before he leaves on Sunday night for work, and of course nothing will be open on Monday. So I go into this local office, and the first lady I see says that she can't process my permit, because I don't have a Heavy Road Tax on file there. So I asked her if she can call the Moses Lake office and have them fax it. Well, she just "doesn't know what to do." So I have to wait until the other lady, who I will affectionately refer to as the HBIC (Head B*tch In Charge) from now on, is done explaining to another customer why she can't do anything to help her. (I don't know what made me think it would be any different when it was my turn.) So then I get up to the HBIC finally, and I explain her her that I need her to call and have them fax the tax document here. So she reluctantly gets up from her throne and gets a book that has all the licensing office numbers in it (why didn't the minion know about this book?) and uses her red and silver 2" long nails to page through. Then she calls the office and they fax it over no problem. I'm a regular there and they know me! Then the lady gets the paper and looks it over and notices that the serial number is different. *sigh* Last year the DOL sent me the renewal notice for the wrong truck, so the tax got paid for the wrong vehicle and it was totally FUBARed. It wasn't my fault though, and the ladies here understand that. The HBIC, however, rules that she will not sell me tonage, even when I explained the situation. A total waste of my time, and I let her know it. If it wouldn't have resulted in the police being called I might have thrown some magazines at her. When I called the office here the ladies couldn't believe that she was being so ridiculous.
The rest of the day after that was uneventful. So this concludes our story! :)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Getting Freshened Up

When did showering become my most conflicting time of the day. First of all, it is about the only 10 minutes I get totally to myself. Unless a) my son comes in and talks to me while I shower b) my husband comes in and talks to me while I shower or c) the baby screams while I shower. All of which detract from my 10 minutes of serenity. I don't understand why people feel the need to talk to you while you shower. In my opinion that is quiet time, but to each their own. Anyway, those are the most relaxing 10 minutes of my day barring any of the above three scenarios, which frankly happen more often than not.
The 10-20 minutes that follow the shower, however, are some of my least favorite of the day. I hate having to put clothes on, do my lotions and potions routine, and especially style my hair. It's just not one of those things that is fun for me. Back in the day, in college, when I had nothing better to do than spend an hour doing my hair while I pre-funked to go to the club with my girls, it was kind of fun. (Let's face it everything is more fun with a Smirnoff Ice and a song to shake your booty too!) But now I'm lucky if I can put on my lotion and deodorant back-to-back without someone screaming/crying for me. That's the part I hate now. I put on my lotion and then Byron will come in and say he needs another episode of Max & Ruby turned on. Then I put on my deodorant, and just as I'm reaching for my tooth brush the baby starts screaming. Then I brush my teeth, and just as I'm plugging in the hair dryer I will hear any number of noises that put the fear in a mother. Usually a crash noise, or a loud shrieking cry or a knock at the door (I'm still naked at this point.) (Nothing worse than answering the door in your robe, because it basically announces that you were naked when the doorbell rang.)
So anyway, by the time I get all of that done and get dressed and put on make-up it seems like half the day is gone. Sometimes I have to stop to breastfeed the baby just so I can make it through my "get ready for the day routine." Maybe I should take up the habit of drinking a Smirnoff Ice while I get ready everyday. No...nevermind...people would probably frown on that.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Silence

I don't know what it is about having kids that makes you appreciate silence, and small moments to yourself. A haircut is luxurious and relaxing. Doing housework with no toddler following behind you destroying what you've just cleaned is "fun."
I've been feeling really tired and over needed lately. My kids are being high maintenance. My dogs are being high maintenance, and my husband is MORE than high maintenance you'd think he was the King of England. I don't know how to explain to them all that I need some space, and the more they touch me the more I can't stand to be touched. But luckily, today my husband got home from work around Noon and he took our son with him for a couple hours while he does some running around for work. So I'm sitting here writing my blog, and Facebooking in COMPLETE silence while the baby sleeps. She's been so grumpy the last couple of days. I swear she is just exhausted too. Byron is always waking her up from her naps. He does it to be loving, but the poor thing never gets more than a 10 min catnap most days.
She started drooling a lot too so I'm wondering if she is teething early. Just what I need...a cranky baby with a mouthful of teeth early. Every breastfeeding Mother's dream!

Monday, May 11, 2009

The last 3 Days & Flying home: Part 3

Okay, before I get a case of "momnesia" and forget what happened the last few days of our trip I had better write about them. Although they were MUCH better than the first three. Byron really calmed down a lot on Friday. I don't know if it was the combination of swimming and more sleep or if it was because we went to eat and then just went to play at my friend Kelli's parent's house. Whatever it was he was acting like himself again. I mean he still asked to go home all the time, but he wasn't being dramatic and throwing a fit. We made dinner at their home that night instead of eating out, and Byron ate a ton of a green beans. Nothing else, but I'm not gonna argue with him for eating his vegetables! Then we went home and went swimming again, and to bed.
The next day was Saturday, and a gorgeous warm day. We went to the zoo with Stacy, Brooke, Kelli, and all the respective offspring. It was a total blast! Byron is still talking about the "animools." Those 2 1/2 hours were probably the only ones the whole trip that he didn't ask to go home. I did, however, get my first dirty look for breastfeeding in public. This has seriously NEVER happened to me in Washington. I was using a blanket to cover up too, which I never used to do with my son, but have suddenly become more modest! My friend was also changing a diaper on the bench next to me, and this lady walked by and rolled her eyes and said "oh my gosh." (Or something of the like) RIDICULOUS! I'm sorry feeding my kid wasn't convenient for you lady. None of us could believe it.
The last day we spent with my brother at his house just relaxing and eating Chinese food. Byron asked to go home a lot, but I could tell him that we were going "as soon as the airplane comes to pick us up."
So at about 5:30pm we loaded up and headed for the airport. We got checked in and then realized we had to go down further to a different counter to check baggage. Once we checked the bags they informed me that I needed to take the bags over to the security scanning area. This gave me a miniature panic attack. I had 2 car seats (one with wheels and a kid strapped in it), and one infant one....then I had a backpack for me, and a backpack for Byron, and a large wheeled suitcase for Lillie and I and a duffel bag for Byron. I wasn't sure how I was going to get all that the 50 ft across the airport. (In hindsight this seems ridiculous that I was mentally freaking out, but it had been a VERY exhausting week.) One of the ladies from the counter helped me over there though, and we went on our way through the checkpoints to our gate. We were pros at this by now, already knew what to take off and such. We got to our gate and Byron spied the candy machine...and I thought what the heck...he can have a treat for being good today. Now, this could have been bad. Once he had eaten most of it I was thinking..."you're an idiot you have to fly with him on a plane for the next 5 hours." But fortunately he was so tired that it didn't matter. We got on the first plane and he was out! We got to the next airport and he did good most of the time, but did have a little tantrum about eating. He wanted to get out of his car seat/gogo kidz, and I said "no." (More like a HELL NO, because we are in a busy airport and I have a baby strapped to my chest and a huge backpack on and I don't want you thinking it would be funny to run away from me.) So he didn't want to eat his pizza, because I wouldn't let him out. I just kind of ignored him and got all set up and fed the baby and ate my food. Of course after Lillie was done, this lady came over and said that there were nice family lounges just down the breezeway. Too bad I didn't know about that BEFORE I fed us in the middle of the mall inside the airport that was packed with people. I went there after we got all done eating to change the diapers, and I thought "how relaxing...too bad I didn't know about this before."

Being as our flight was at 9:30pm I thought that it wouldn't be very full...boy was I wrong. That thing was packed! Who would have thought so many people fly from Minneapolis to Spokane on a Sunday night. We got to our seats and I thought it said we had the aisle and middle seat, which sucks if you're putting a car seat in...so I put Byron in the middle seat and sat on the aisle. Well, I was wrong, and a man had the aisle, so I squeezed past Byron into the window seat. All well and good until mid-flight Lillie craps her pants. Not just a little one either....all the way up her back! I couldn't get out because Byron was watching a movie and that guy was sleeping, and the person in front of me was leaned all the way back. I had like 1 foot of space over my lap. I had to reach into my bag and get everything out by feel. I don't know how I managed to get all that poop off and her clothes without getting it everywhere. I mean most of you know how runny little baby poop is! When I was almost done Byron started thrashing around and knocked the poopy diaper and all the wipes I used onto the floor. So I had to pick them all up BY FEEL...and then use another wipe to wipe off my hands. However, that was the end of the mid-flight pooptastrophy. Then about 40 minutes from our arrival time Byron just decides that he is done. No more travelling, no more flying. He is going to let us all know how tired he is and he just starts screaming and crying. Lillie is asleep at this point so I'm trying to calm Byron down, but not wake her up, and this lady across the aisle switches places with the guy sitting next to Byron and saves the day. She was a Grandma. She showed Byron her pictures on her camera of her grand kids, and a cute little cookbook she bought them. I am so thankful for that lady saving my sanity.
Then we arrived, and somehow I managed to get us, and all of our luggage curbside for the shuttle to pick us up and take us to our car. After that it was all gravy. We got in the car and the kids were out in minutes, and we were home in less than 2 hours. I was so glad to get home I had to Facebook before bed and didn't get to sleep until after 2am.
Since we got home we have all slept in everyday for the last week. There's no place like home!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The first 3 days: Part 2

As I said before, the flying was the part that I expected to be the hardest. Boy was I wrong. I didn't realize that my son was going to be like a fish out of water for the first half of the trip. He couldn't go to sleep at night. I had to turn all the lights off in the hotel room and just sit there with him on his bed until he fell asleep. This usually took about an hour.


Once he was asleep around 9 or 10pm (which is only 7 or 8 our time) I would lay in bed and watch TV or Facebook until I could go to sleep. I got to sleep around 11pm most nights, so now that I'm home I'm ready for bed around 9 or 10pm. He would sleep well once he was asleep and wake up about 12 hrs later. So that was good, but it didn't seem to improve his mood that much, and it also meant that we missed breakfast at the hotel a lot.

The first day we went to visit my friend Stacy at her house. She babysits 4 other kids under 4 and has her own daughter Nina who is 2. (That seems crazy to me, but she does a good job!) Byron was being okay at first, but the longer we were there the more difficult he was getting. He wasn't being nice to the other kids, and just generally doing things he doesn't normally do. Stacy's daughter wasn't in a good place either, which helped a little (mentally for me.) Byron and Nina kept trading off who got to sit in the Time Out Chair. While we were at her house both kids pooped, and Lillie's was a total blow-out. I had forgotten to throw in an extra outfit, so Stacy was nice enough to give me one of her daughter's baby sleepers. After I had about enough of Byron picking on everyone we decided to leave and go take a drive. I could tell Byron was till exhausted from his cold and lack of sleep the night before our flight. So we drove around looking at familiar places to see how they changed. (The kids fell asleep in a matter of minutes, and this became a daily ritual to keep my sanity. A few minutes of peace and quiet everyday.) Later we met up with my brother and my niece (16 months) for pizza at his house. Byron was a little better, but was still being really pushy with her and not sharing well. Back to the hotel around 7:30, and then we started the nightly struggle to get to sleep.

The next day (Thursday) we were planning to go to the zoo, but even though the temperature was nice it kept showering every so often. So my friend Brooke, her daughter Lily (9 months) and our little troop went to lunch (which Byron didn't eat), and then to the mall. Byron seemed very interested in the little car strollers, and since I didn't bring one with me I went ahead and got one even though I was hesitant. I mean really, $5 to rent a stroller?! Are you joking me? That seems a little pricey. Here is a picture of him enjoying the stroller I paid so much for, and might I just add that this also illustrates his mood the first half of the trip. We thought he would enjoy playing at the indoor play area, but he played about 2 minutes and was done. He liked the cars that you could put 75 cents in to ride, as long as you didn't actually put money in them. He also didn't enjoy the ice cream or $20 wood fire truck I bought him that day.


So here's the thing. I don't normally give in to my kid's every whim. I'm usually much more mean than that, but I was grasping at straws. I needed him to be happy, and I was willing to do whatever it took to get it. Let this be a lesson though, it didn't work. He was still terrible no matter what I let him do. I think he appreciated it more when I started being mean again!

Anyway, for dinner that night we went to a really fun 50's diner called Stella's. You get milkshakes poured on your head, and there is jukeboxes at your table. It's a fun place, but Byron refused to enjoy it. So here is a picture of him yelling at me that he wants to go home and me trying to defuse the situation. He kept trying to squirt me with the ketchup and mustard bottles and I had only one sweatshirt with me.
After dinner (which Byron didn't eat) we went back to the hotel and I decided to try swimming with him. He hasn't been swimming since he was like 9 months old, so I didn't know if he would like it. He fought me the whole way down to the pool, and then once we were there I could hardly get him to leave. It totally changed his mood and he actually ate his leftover fries.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Flying There: Part1 of my trip

I have to admit of all the things about my trip, I expected the flying to be the most difficult. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, but I think I under estimated the whole being away from home experience. The flying thing started out good. My son didn't sleep the night before, because we stayed in a hotel by the airport and it was too interesting to go to sleep. So he ended up falling asleep around 10pm I think, and we had to get up around 4:30am. So we didn't start out on the best foot. The first flight was the long leg, so I brought the car seat on. I had Lillie strapped to my chest in the Beco, and it was really difficult to get that in there without feeling like I was smashing the baby. She was screaming her head off the whole time, and of course the person sitting in the aisle seat was already on board because he was a "preferred customer." What is it about the idea of letting people who need extra time go first, that seems okay to let people that fly a lot on first? It was really frustrating. I put on a brave face though, and acted like I had it under control. Once the seat was in, it was fairly easy from there. The guy next to me got "bumped" to first class (I think the flight attendants took pity on him) so that I had an extra seat next to me to set the baby down on. Byron just watched his movies and read his books, and fell asleep about 5 min before we made our descent. SUCKY! His ears started hurting from the pressure in the cabin, and he got pissed. I tried to give him gum, or get him to drink or stick his tongue out, but he wasn't having it. Then he was so tired and cranky when we landed that I had to literally wrestle him out of the plane and back into his seat (while wearing a baby strapped to my chest and a huge backpack full of diapers and other essentials.) He was fine after that, because he could just wheel around with me in the airport in his GoGoKidz (converts car seat into a stroller). We ate lunch and he fell asleep...5 MINUTES BEFORE WE BOARDED AGAIN. This plane was too small to use the seat on, so I had to hold him in his seat (with a baby strapped to my chest)while he threw another fit. As soon as the plane started rolling he fell asleep, and slept until we got to the airport in Des Moines. He threw another tantrum all the way through the airport, and into the rental car.

To summarize this day in a nutshell....mind numbing. Once I finally got the kids to fall asleep in the hotel that night, which wasn't until 10:30 or 11pm (only 8:30-9 our time) I lay in bed and it felt like the whole bed was swaying back and forth, and my head was pounding. I needed a rum and coke. I didn't get one, because I had no one with me to leave with the kids while I snuck out to the bar taunting me across the street. Instead, I Facebooked on my Blackberry until I was tired enough to sleep.